Building upon many years of privately shared thoughts on the real benefits of Stoic Philosophy, Liam Milburn eventually published a selection of Stoic passages that had helped him to live well. They were accompanied by some of his own personal reflections. This blog hopes to continue his mission of encouraging the wisdom of Stoicism in the exercise of everyday life. All the reflections are taken from his notes, from late 1992 to early 2017.
The Death of Marcus Aurelius
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Epictetus, Golden Sayings 53
No, young man, for heaven's sake, but once you have heard these words, go home and say to yourself:
"It is not Epictetus that has told me these things; how indeed should he? No, it is some gracious God through him. Else it would never have entered his head to tell me them, he that is not used to speak to anyone thus. Well, then, let us not lie under the wrath of God, but be obedient unto Him."
No, indeed. But if a raven by its croaking bears you any sign, it is not the raven, but God that sends the sign through the raven.
And if He signifies anything to you through human voice, will He not cause the man to say these words to you to, that you may know the power of the Divine—how He sends a sign to some in one way and to others in another, and on the greatest and highest matters of all signifies His will through the noblest messenger?
What else does the poet mean:
I spake unto him once Myself, and sent
Hermes the shining One, to check and warn him,
The husband not to slay, nor woo the wife!
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